An international meeting

Thursday 19 April REMEMBER

Let’s unite all nations, all religions, all official authorities, all opinions in order to make peace.


  1. Meditating on the graves of the Great War victims.Each national delegation will meditate in the cemeteries of their compatriots.
  2. Remembering the past to make it present.In the evening, a ceremony will take place at the Memory Ring (Anneau de la Mémoire), where you can read the 570,000 names of the identified soldiers from all nationalities, killed in Artois.
    At the Notre Dame de Lorette basilica, the French biggest military necropolis, there will be an inter-faith service for peace..

Friday 20 April UNDERSTAND

From the Great War to nowadays : the challenge for fair peace


  1. Let’s feed our reflection on fair peace.We are not here only to commemorate war but also to think of the conditions to fair peace today.
  2. Let’s identify the personal and collective stakes to build up fair peace today and tomorrow.
  3. Let’s choose together the slogan for the day after.


- Fair war : its limits and failures
- The challenge of fair peace
- The civilians : between war and peace
- Fair sharing and long-lasting development

Musical show

A musical show based on the pictures of a comics from five testimonies about the Great War.








From 11 a.m. : meeting of all people of good will on the main square (Grand-Place) of Arras with one aim : build up peace

  1. Live peace together
  2. Talk to others and share experiences of peace.
    Meet actors in peace.
  3. Experience peace through play activities.

Six spaces for associations

  1. Education to peace and personal development
  2. Dialogue between cultures and welcoming people different from me
  3. Active non-violence
  4. Inter-faith dialogue in the service of peace
  5. Towards an ecological transition leading to peace
  6. Social justice and Rights


  •  Discussions
  • Collaborative games
  • Building things together - Meeting spots

Artists from all fields will express peace through music, drama, dances etc. In the evening : a big show.

From Saturday to Sunday

A night walk will take place from the Grand-Place of Arras to the Notre Dame de Lorette basilica (15 miles). At each stop, a tribute to a destructed place will be paid and a symbolic action for peace will be held (a collective creation, a night football match with torches…)


Early in the morning, a long human chain will settle on the original frontline of 1917. Each person will have a virtual partner : the name of a civilian or a soldier killed in any conflict from 1914 to the present day.